by Michelle Greysen

Created on: July 15, 2009   Last Updated: July 30, 2009

Learning sign language can be a challenge whether one is a full hearing person, hearing disabled or totally deaf, but is instantly compounded when one is left handed. The first suggested rule for left handed signers is to pick a dominant hand and stick with. The second rule is to then use that dominant hand as the moving hand for two handed signs when one or both hands move. Switching back and forth in confusing ambidextrous signing can be difficult for both the teller and the listener.

The expert consensus is to sign with your dominant hand be it left or right and just know there are a few challenging rules to bend if you are a lefty and to know when you have to stick with the right sign when the reverse does not work. The same signed reversed can on occasion have a totally different meaning such as the signs for hope and apple.

If left is indeed the dominant stronger hand it will be okay for alphabet or signs that only require one hand. Reading a left-handed signer may also prove to be a challenge if the reader is used to seeing a right hand signer and must then get used to seeing it in reverse and even more difficult to read is left hand finger spelling.

In order to create natural smooth movement in conversing in sign language the issue of dominant side and reverse reading has to be considered. As an example when signing the direction left must remain left and right must remain right. So signing left handed for a left directional sign is correct with an L hand shape moving to the left, where as signing right takes a left handed R hand shape moving to the right.

The difficult part of signing left handed is that the teaching, be it book learning, web or classroom instruction is generally for the mass right handed population using right handed signing. The challenge of reversing that thought process of observing the sign and interpreting it for the opposite hand is not always an easy task. The science of the brain allows for a right and left side function within and complicated in that language and visual are not operating on the same sides. Compound the mirror image learning with the lack of verbal ability to aid in teaching a hearing loss student and left handed learners face many hurdles.

Once mastering communicating sign language from a left handed dominant side one will then face frustrations as others around the signer learn to read the left handed language. When reading a left handed signer one must concentrate and process the signs as if in a mirror transposing the backward signs to front and making sense of the left handed symbols and spelling.

Perseverance and determination are the keys to successful communication as a left handed deaf person.

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